The Six Days of Creation on Twitter

Eleven small teams wandered the grounds of Capital Camps in Maryland last week looking for ways to show the six days of creation in photos. At least one person on each team was designated as the photographer who would load each composition with a caption up to Twitter, coded with a hashtag for their team: #Bereshit1, #Bereshit2, #Bereshit3, etc.

The people who didn't understand Twitter were uncomfortable at first. The people who regularly tweet, post on Facebook, upload photos, shoot videos and publish to YouTube were thrilled to show them what they've been missing. Working together, they creatively interpreted biblical text.

It was a team-building activity, with a bit of Torah, that was brand new for a United Synagogue staff retreat. Reflecting the variety of sensibilities of our staff, our submissions ranged from literal to puns, to some that might take a minute to understand. In total, they are a reflection of our diversity as a staff, our skills, and the different ways we view what goes on around us. Our collective Twitter profile for that day highlights us as a community.

Although it was a fun exercise, and probably something that has been or will be repeated in camp and school settings, it's also not just for kids. More and more, community activities are recorded in the cyber world. We upload photos and videos, comment and share articles, ideas, jokes, and, yes, sometimes some pretty mundane details about baking challah, as my Facebook friends saw on Friday afternoon.

But if you know how to navigate the online world, you can tune in to conversations that span minutes, hours or years. Today, on Twitter, I'm able to view the proceedings of a sold-out conference for non-profits from Board Source by searching for #blf2012.  Jewish educators talk regularly together with the hashtag #jedchat.

You can even watch communal preparations in real time. Here is the Twitter feed for #ShanaTova. In the two seconds it took for me to make a screen shot, eight new tweets came in. In the minute it took for me to upload this screen shot to this blog, 69 new wishes of Shana Tova came in to Twitter.

It's not that the people getting ready for the High Holidays have nothing else to do but post on Twitter. It's that Twitter has become an avenue for expression and connection. I find it glorious that I can see the excitement, reverence, irreverence and passion for Judaism this morning as thousands of people wish one another Shana Tova. (284 new tweets came up in the time it took me to write that sentence.)

To the people who worry about what our online activities will do to our ability to make real friendships, or that the cyber world also has its bullying and attacks, I'll ask that we save that discussion for another day.  Jews have a long history of recording our conversations - the Talmud is full of them. A Twitter feed does not rise to the level of Talmud, but I would argue that it can reflect our talmud Torah, study of Torah. 

And in this world at this point in history, finding kehilla - sacred community - online can be a gift if we know how to look for it.

May this year be one of peace and growth. 

#ShanaTova